DVD/BD Release List – 07/27/10

It’s an eclectic batch of titles this week, top-lined by a pair of excellent foreign language films: the French drama The Secret Of The Grain (about an unemployed Tunisian immigrant who tries to launch a restaurant) and the operatic Italian history-play Vincere (about the rise of Benito Mussolini and the corresponding fall of the woman who secretly married him). The former comes from Criterion; the latter from IFC (and not Criterion, oddly). Criterion is also releasing a collection of ‘30s French comedies directed by and starring Sacha Guitry; we’ll have a full review of that in the near future.

On the TV-on-DVD front, it’s a great week for those who dig television history, whether it be the classic sitcom The Phil Silvers Show (review coming soon) or the crimefighting adventures produced by Stephen J. Cannell. For a real chestnut, check out the complete two-season run of the late ‘60s sitcom The Mothers-In-Law, with Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard as best friends who squabble when their children marry. And on the geek-friendly front, this week offers the kung fu biopic Ip Man, the Warner Animation feature Batman: Under The Red Hood, and the unusual Night Of The Living Dead: Reanimated, in which multiple animators take on scenes from George Romero’s horror classic. Again, look for reviews of some of the above in our regular DVD section, soonish.